CustoMac Mini suggestions

[paulzag]

My 2007 mac mini can no longer be updated and the essential media/server stuff (calibre and others) has just made OS X 10.7 the minimum.

I can buy a 2013 mac mini new for $599 AUD or I can build a hackintosh for the chuckles, but I want to be under that mac mini price with better performance. Worst case I could change to Linux but we've got 4 Macs and numerous iDevices in the house. AUD is about 10% below USD.

The Buyer's guide suggests a GA-H87N-WIFI which are almost extinct in the wild in Australia. Those that are around are priced as collector's items >$180 AUD on ebay, newegg is out of stock and Amazon wont ship mobo's to Oz. I may be able to pick one up of ~$135

But I can get GA-Z87M-D3H for $90 or a GA-H97N-WIFI for $139.

All other components in the buyer's guide for the customac mini are available here or via ebay/amazon/newegg.

Any suggestions on mobo's? or should I look at a totally different setup?

Brix and NUC's are $700+ AUD here.

edit: I can wait a week to see if there is a refresh on the Mac Mini line on Sept 9 but I've learned not to second guess Apple.

 

[nobodynose]

My 2007 mac mini can no longer be updated and the essential media/server stuff (calibre and others) has just made OS X 10.7 the minimum.

I can buy a 2013 mac mini new for $599 AUD or I can build a hackintosh for the chuckles, but I want to be under that mac mini price with better performance. Worst case I could change to Linux but we've got 4 Macs and numerous iDevices in the house. AUD is about 10% below USD.

The Buyer's guide suggests a GA-H87N-WIFI which are almost extinct in the wild in Australia. Those that are around are priced as collector's items >$180 AUD on ebay, newegg is out of stock and Amazon wont ship mobo's to Oz. I may be able to pick one up of ~$135

But I can get GA-Z87M-D3H for $90 or a GA-H97N-WIFI for $139.

All other components in the buyer's guide for the customac mini are available here or via ebay/amazon/newegg.

Any suggestions on mobo's? or should I look at a totally different setup?

Brix and NUC's are $700+ AUD here.

edit: I can wait a week to see if there is a refresh on the Mac Mini line on Sept 9 but I've learned not to second guess Apple.

Go with the GA-H97N-WIFI if you need MiniITX, or the GA-Z87M-D3H if MicroATX is small enough. Both are listed in the Buyer's Guide.

 

[bob32818]

So both the GA-Z87MX-D3H AND GAZ87M-D3H are both good to use for a CustoMac Mini Build?
As all I can find is the "m" not the "mx" version.

 

[nobodynose]

So both the GA-Z87MX-D3H AND GAZ87M-D3H are both good to use for a CustoMac Mini Build?
As all I can find is the "m" not the "mx" version.

Both are "safe", as both are in the Buyer's Guide (meaning they've been tested and are known to work well with Mac OS X). The main differences between the two, in case you're curious, are as follows:

• The GA-Z87MX-D3H has a DisplayPort in addition to the GA-Z87M-D3H's VGA, DVI-D, and HDMI ports.
• The 'MX' has an Intel LAN chip, the 'M' has Realtek LAN.
• The 'MX' has 4 PCIe slots, the 'M' has 2 PCIe & 2 PCI.

Good luck!

 

[bob32818]

Thank you much for the quick and thorough answer.
This boards are getting harder to find and prices are going up fast.

 

[bob32818]

We'll, waited to long. Site with GAZ87M-D3H board out of stock now.
Do you know if "H" series chipset will work?
Other wise I am left with open box (NewEgg) for above board.
The H series is[h=1]GA-H87M-D3H[/h]and has [TR="class: hdr"] [TR="class: dtls"] [TR="class: dtls"]

LAN
Network Controller	Intel I217V
Network Interfaces	Gigabit Ethernet

 

[nobodynose]

We'll, waited to long. Site with GAZ87M-D3H board out of stock now.
Do you know if "H" series chipset will work?
Other wise I am left with open box (NewEgg) for above board.
The H series isGA-H87M-D3H

and has [TR="class: cms_table_hdr"] [TR="class: cms_table_dtls"] [TR="class: cms_table_dtls"]

LAN
Network Controller	Intel I217V
Network Interfaces	Gigabit Ethernet

- - - Updated - - -

We'll, waited to long. Site with GAZ87M-D3H board out of stock now.
Do you know if "H" series chipset will work?
Other wise I am left with open box (NewEgg) for above board.
The H series isGA-H87M-D3H

and has [TR="class: cms_table_hdr"] [TR="class: cms_table_dtls"] [TR="class: cms_table_dtls"]

LAN
Network Controller	Intel I217V
Network Interfaces	Gigabit Ethernet

Yes, H87 and H81 boards will work fine, as long as the components (audio, ethernet, etc.) are supported. I just recently built 3 Hackintosh using GA-H81M-HD2, which went very well.

The specific board you named, the GA-H87M-D3H, should work just fine... It has Realtek ALC892 audio and Realtek ethernet (both supported).

 

[trs96]

We'll, waited to long. Site with GAZ87M-D3H board out of stock now.
Do you know if "H" series chipset will work?
Other wise I am left with open box (NewEgg) for above board.
The H series isGA-H87M-D3H

As was stated by NobodyNose the H series works well. There is an abundance of the H81M-HD3
boards available and they are very easy to install OS X. Keep that in mind as a backup option
if you want mATX instead of full ATX for your CustoMac mini.

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=h81m-hd3&_sop=15

You are limited to 16GB of ram with these if that is important for your build.

 

[bob32818]

Thank You.
You have been a great help.

 

[bob32818]

Could you refer me to a guide with 10.9 install steps, please.